The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.”

Creating the character of Evelyn Hugo changed my life. Not only did she change who I am as a person, but she set me on a path I never imagined for myself. One that now feels inevitable in hindsight. I have long been fascinated by the spotlight. What does it do to people? How does it change them? What dangers lurk under its gaze? So deciding to actually write about fame—to take on that fascination directly—felt daring, intoxicating, and thrilling. I thought I would have a fun time; I thought maybe I could tell a good story. I did not expect to find a piece of myself that, it turned out, I always knew was there. Writing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo felt like opening up a door and realizing everything you’ve ever wanted to do was waiting for you in that room. Without Evelyn Hugo there is no Daisy Jones and The Six, no Malibu Rising, and no Carrie Soto Is Back. As I approach the end of this world of novels with the publication of the upcoming Carrie Soto, it is such a pleasure—a true indulgence—to be able to go back to the woman who started it all, my first all-encompassing character, who took over my heart and soul . . . Evelyn Hugo. **** This was one of the first lines of Evelyn’s that I remember coming up with. I wrote it down in my notebook. I heard her voice for the first time. I believe I wrote down, “Don’t just accept what the world gives you. Decide what you want and then take it.” But by the time I understood where it would go in the book, it took a slightly different form. This is a perfect example of a character saying something that even I didn’t know for myself. So Evelyn’s giving me advice here as much as Monique or any reader.

But the truth is, praise is just like an addiction. The more you get it, the more of it you need just to stay even.

This one comes straight from my heart! I’m a praise addict, an overachiever. And I was wondering, if I was ever as famous as Evelyn Hugo, would the praise be enough? Would it cure something in me? I suspected the answer was no. This was part of what has been a long journey for me, learning to live for my own validation.

You have to find a job that makes your heart feel big instead of one that makes it feel small.

This was a late addition to the book. It was added during the second to last or last round of edits. And yet, this is probably the idea that I come back to the most. I ask it of myself so often, when trying to make decisions. It makes me happy people might be drawn to this line. Perhaps I’m on the right track.

People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is “You’re safe with me”—that’s intimacy.

The popularity of this line really took me by surprise! I see memes of this one more than any other quote from the book. And it makes me incredibly happy to see that this distinction resonates with people. Evelyn is wiser than I am. I’m not sure how that is literally possible. But she knows things I don’t. This was one of them.

Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.

Oh, man. Well first of all, let me just say that I’ve denied many a thing in my life and they never go away. They always just wait or erupt. But what I love about people being drawn to this line in particular is that this is Evelyn’s moment in which she understands that she is in love. And, in her own way, it is one of the most romantic lines of the book, I think.

You wonder what it must be like to be a man, to be so confident that the final say is yours.

Damn you, Mick Riva! But I stand by this with my whole heart. Power is ultimately about who will back you. And men like Mick Riva not only have the strength of their physical body but the strength of the entire community at large, ready to back them up. Women like Evelyn Hugo do not have that luxury. And if this book is about any one thing, it is about maneuvering through and around power, when the world is set up to keep you from it.

It’s always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly.

Evelyn is a woman of opposites. She’s a selfish person who’s incredibly selfless sometimes. She’s an operator and yet she’s so deeply loving. And because she’s honest about all of that (She’s honest about how much she lies!), she’s more aware of herself than other people. And thus, more aware of what other people are up to, too. Even if they can’t see it. Especially Celia. What I love about Celia—and I do love it about her even though I do not like it about her—is that Celia is a selfish person. She’s a jealous person. Celia is as imperfect as the rest of them. And Evelyn understands that their love is not simple. Their motivations are not always pretty. It doesn’t have to be good and perfect and clean. She accepts Celia as she is.

Which is about the cruelest thing you can do to someone you love, give them just enough good to make them stick through a hell of a lot of bad.

All relationships are a mixture of good moments and bad moments. But I’ve been involved in relationships and jobs and projects in which the balance was unpredictable and off center. And I often felt trapped. Because how can you want to leave something when there are such good moments? But I’ve realized that it’s not about whether there are some good moments. It’s about whether the good outweighs the bad. I had to change the calculation in my mind. And I’m glad I have. I’m better for it. I wonder, if Evelyn and Celia had that insight then, if they could have drawn better boundaries, supported each other better. They could have avoided a lot of what came next.

But once he has his hand on the doorknob, I realize that I have put into motion the end of a lackluster life in the interest of eventually finding a great one.

Monique’s moment! All I ever wanted for Monique was that she have the confidence to declare her desire for more. Monique wants big things from the world! And when she gets to this moment, I’m proud of her for seeing it. For giving it a name. You have to be able to admit what you want, at least to yourself. You owe yourself that much.

You don’t have to make yourself OK for a good mother; a good mother makes herself OK for you.

I finished the edits on this book days before my daughter was born. I was thinking so much about what it meant to be a mother, what sort of mother I wanted to be. Seeing this quote now, I’m reminded of something Billy Dunne says at the end of Daisy Jones and The Six about being a parent, too. My daughter was just a few months old when I wrote that one. But the sentiment continued. At the time I think I thought this line Monique says was a small thing. But I can see now that it was the beginning of what will be a decades long (life long?) question for me. What does it mean to be a parent? And that makes me happy. Because it means there’s always more to ask and thus, eventually, more to say. Thank you so much for reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Like Evelyn, I have many different types of great loves in my life. But there is no doubt she is one of mine. I am so fortunate that I have been given the opportunity to create her, and then, because of her, Daisy Jones, and Nina Riva, and Carrie Soto. It has been the biggest surprise and joy of my career to have written these four women. xo, TJR